Our Red Squirrels Return for Winter (Blog)

We hadn’t seen our red squirrels since about May / June, but over the last few weeks they have returned to the nuts. Thought you might like to see some of the pics – not all are clear I’m afraid as taken through the window & we usually take a lot of video footage of them rather than photos.

Pics of Tufty – he seems to be the youngster & in good condition with a lovely red coat on him. He’s visited us from a baby & is quite used to us taking pics of him – a cheeky wee chappy & great to watch his antics.

Must remember to always be on guard for those dogs – Buddy & Holly, but oh how I like to tease them………

Ok, that’s enough photos you’ve taken, I’m going to pretend I’m shy

Pics of Bobble Nose ………………

Peek a boo………I see you !

What was that – I heard something………………

A reminder of previous visitors (at least 3) during better weather – Tufty is easily recognisable but we had as many as 3 during one visit & it’s hard to tell one squirrel from the next when they appear individually.

Hope you enjoyed the blog – For anyone who hasn’t previously seen our squirrel pics in our profile photos, please check them out

What a treat to see red squirrels. You are so lucky to actually have them in your garden. They must be hungry and they definitely know where the best local restaurant is! Yes they do look in good condition. I can see why Bobble Nose has that name. Thanks for such great photos.

I wanted to see where you live CG, because of the red squirrels, so went to your homepage and then started looking at your pictures. I am bowled over by your wonderful plants, by all the hard work you have done and are doing and I think your lives look idyllic in that gorgeous place. I wanted to click on every photo as favourite.
Congratulations. ps Lovely hair too.
Your soil must be very good to grow such wonderful things. Not only that you are clever with making lots of pics into one (don't know the right term.) Not only that you are so young. Grrrrr...I'm so jealous!!

Thanks for your comments everyone. We'll keep trying to get some more pics of them over the winter. There's still lots of reds in the woods around us but greys 6 or so miles away that we know of & perhaps even closer - but we've never seen any.
Hello to you too Mad - glad to meet you. The "collages" are created on Picassa which you can download free from the net - I don't really know what I'm doing but seem to get by. Glad you like the pics. I'd say we were middle aged. Mr CG has been gardening for over 30 years & Mrs CG about 20. There was quite a lot of nitrogen in the soil as the whole main garden area was previously covered in bird cages & averies before we came & the garden not used for years (as you will have seen from pics). Apart from that, good old farm manure, compost, bonemeal where needed & a lot of hard work.

Wow,Beautifully taken pictures of the lovely red Squirrels.You are so lucky to
live in such a wonderful environment.All your hard work is certainly paying
off.How nice to have so much to entertain you,on these cold days....

Oh...here they are again.....wonderful...I can't imagine what it must be like to have such wonderful visitors in your garden....absolute treasures...:o) Beautiful photos Cg....thanks for sharing...really lovely!

Thanks again everyone for your comments - glad to share with you. Red's are quite a bit smaller than the greys & very dainty. Hope we never see any greys around here, it would be a shame, although I'm sure they are nice to watch, it's the reds that would suffer / decline in numbers.

~ It seems that in most of the areas where there are quite strong numbers they are being monitored for the spread of greys into their habitat~they will be taking a more active defensive strategy to protect them such as immuno contraception for the greys~ they are being successfully introduced onto islands where the population can be easily controlled . Apparently there are 300 on Anglesey relocated from a reserve in East Anglia~it is sad that the greys will be culled in some areas though ~if some berk who introduced them in the first place from the US had not done so there wouldn't be a problem now!We alter ecology at our peril!
Prince Charles is the patron of The Red Squirrel Survival Trust~

Wow!! these are such fantastic photos. i have never really seen red squirrells in such detail. Fantastic and so pretty. Was a bit worried about your caption 'pics of bobble nose' thought you'd left out the 'k' :-)